Treatments for stage 0 colon cancer

The following are treatment options for stage 0 colon cancer. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Surgery

Surgery is the standard treatment for stage 0 colon cancer. Local excision is usually done to remove the tumour and a small amount of tissue around it. This surgery is often done during a colonoscopy with a polypectomy. Sometimes more surgery is needed to remove any cancer left behind or if cancer cells are found in the tissue removed with the tumour (called positive surgical margins).

A bowel resection may be done if the tumour is too large to be removed with local excision. Depending on the location of the tumour, the surgeon may do a right hemicolectomy, transverse colectomy, left hemicolectomy, sigmoid colectomy, subtotal colectomy or total colectomy.

Clinical trials

You may be asked if you want to join a clinical trial for colon cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.